Teaching · For Tutors

Employee or contractor: let the facts decide.

Answer ten questions about how a tutor would actually work for you. The guide groups them the way the IRS does, shows where they lean, lists the forms for that status and estimates what an employee costs in federal taxes.

Plan a roleWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Tutoring business kit, $69 for 64 items.

The classification planner

One record per tutor role, under a role code. The example role and pay are made up.

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What you get

Teaching · For Tutors$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
For each tutor role, the answers by IRS category, where the facts lean, the forms that status needs and an estimate of employer taxes for an employee.
Who it is for
Owners and managers of tutoring businesses and independent tutors bringing on their first help.
Format
Browser planner filled in before you hire. One saved record per role; printed with the summary or as a blank form; CSV; export and import a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Tutoring business kit ($69) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The For Tutors space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.
the facts tip the balance, not the label
Drawn for this page. What an agreement calls a tutor matters less than who controls the work.

How to use it

  1. Start a record with a role code and the planned start date.
  2. Describe the work and what you plan.
  3. Answer each question for how the work would really be done.
  4. Enter the pay plan for the cost estimate.
  5. Adjust the role, or the plan, until the two agree.

Plan a role

What the guide is for

How the IRS looks at it

The IRS weighs evidence of behavioral control (who directs how the work is done), financial control (investment, unreimbursed costs, chance of profit or loss, how the worker is paid) and the relationship (benefits, permanence, whether the work is a key part of the business). No single fact decides.

The Department of Labor test

For minimum wage and overtime, the Department of Labor asks whether the worker is economically dependent on the business or in business for themselves, looking at factors such as control, profit or loss, investment, permanence, skill and initiative, and how integral the work is. Its enforcement guidance has changed in recent years, so check the current rule.

What this is not

A planning aid, not a determination or tax advice. Many states use stricter tests for unemployment and wage laws.

Sources

  1. Internal Revenue Service, Publication 15-A, Employer’s Supplemental Tax Guide (common-law rules: behavioral control, financial control, relationship of the parties), and Form SS-8.
  2. Internal Revenue Service, Publication 15 (Circular E): Social Security 6.2% and Medicare 1.45% employer shares; FUTA 6.0% on the first $7,000 of wages, generally 0.6% after the state credit.
  3. U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, employee or independent contractor classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act (29 CFR Part 795) and current field guidance.
  4. Internal Revenue Service, Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC, and Form W-9.

The example role and pay are made up. Tax rates are federal rates in general terms; check the current figures. Not legal or tax advice. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.